


Galvanized by flame

by aradinfinity



Category: Elsword (Video Game)
Genre: Other
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-02-28
Updated: 2018-04-11
Packaged: 2019-03-25 04:21:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,172
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13826373
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aradinfinity/pseuds/aradinfinity
Summary: Before Ara joins the El Search Party, she has to get somewhere safe. Fortunately, there's a fox spirit with her best interests in mind...





	1. Endings

Flames streaked the sky.  
The smoke made Eun's nose curl. A sickly-sweet scent. A nearby building collapsed; inside, there was no sound. Its inhabitants had already died.  
Her pointed ears turned one way, then the other. The only sound was that of wood burning and falling, stone roofs meeting the ground for the first time in decades. Well, that wasn't true; there was another sound, but Eun was ignoring it.  
Her tails swished through the air behind her, and she gripped her spear tighter, then forced herself to relax. She took a step forward, then another.  
She just had to get down these stairs, she told herself. For a moment, she hesitated. Then, she shook her head, and continued. Then across the bridge. She could do it; she knew she could.  
Ara, the girl whose body she was inhabiting- her high priestess now, Eun supposed- was asleep. Unconscious. Whichever. She could feel her in the back of her mind. A tendril of thought stilled her dreams, and Ara relaxed. Eun keep walking. One step at a time. One foot in front of each other.  
She passed the home of Merrin, the waxmaker. At least, that was who it had belonged to when she had last been awake. Eun didn't know how long that had been; she had slipped into Ara's body as she passed out from shock, and hadn't had the chance to ask when it was. The doorway had collapsed, preventing anyone still inside from leaving; Eun saw marks in the wood like those from an axe or a sword. The demons had done that on purpose, then. Keep walking.  
She passed the home of Erin; an outcast Haan, the family that had sworn to Eun's service, so long ago. The house numbers were scattered in the mud, a mixture of dirt, blood, and grass. Eun remembered Erin being fun, when she had been awake last. She shook her head. There- she'd nearly missed the corpse with the way her vision was swimming with tears.  
Eun knelt by it, rolling it over gently. The boy had been ten years old. An arrow shaft protruded through his breast. She closed his eyes, placed her hand on his chest; she felt the fear, the confusion, of his last moments. “Be at peace,” she murmured, and a white, pure flame flowed from her hand. She stood, and watched the corpse burn; she didn't know his name. Eun kept walking.  
She reached the town square. The well had been lit; pieces of wood were falling into its depths, and the smell of death made her nose wrinkle. She looked into it, confirming her suspicions; there were more corpses down there, having been dumped to taint the water source. Eun shook her head; her tears glimmered as they fell, catching the glint of the flames and- something behind her-  
Eun span, catching the sword with the blade of her spear as the demon struck. She twisted, and the piglike thing grunted in surprise as its sword went past her. She growled, then reached out, and grabbed its head.  
Her thumb plunged into its eye socket, and it squealed in pain, reaching up to grapple at her arm. She stepped forward, forcing it onto its knees as its eye popped, and Eun bared her teeth as she poured power into it.  
The demon screamed as it burned, and Eun bashed its head into the side of the stone well until it stopped. She stood and spat on the corpse, then wiped her mouth on Ara's sleeve and kept walking.  
The rage kept her going. She could feel it burning inside her, and she welcomed its warmth; if it weren't for that, she would have collapsed until Ara woke again. But there wasn't time for that, and it was no longer safe here. Eun passed the- She stopped, looking up the path to the mansion.  
There was a group of demons in the courtyard. They were setting it aflame; apparently, they hadn't received the instruction to retreat. Eun spotted a pale face in an upstairs window, quickly obscured by the smoke, and she growled. The demon she assumed to be the supervisor turned, spotting her, and caught the attention of its fellows-  
Her spear caught it in the chest, and then she ripped it out, kicking it in the groin in the process. It grunted as it fell backwards, and Eun stepped in, swirling her spear through her tails and swiping it up, sending the demon into the air. One, two, three jabs, and then she twirled, jumping up even as she brought the demon down, pinning it to the ground by the spear through its throat. It struggled, and she put two fingers to its snout before popping its life as easily as her host might a grape.  
The other demons finally rushed her, and she grit her teeth. One, two, three, dodge- the demon's blow hit another, and she stepped in, kicking one in the face before whirling and slamming her palm into a second's temple. She jumped, flipping through the air, and landed on one knee, her fingers touching the ground. Eun threw her hand forward, and darkness swirled out of Ara's robe, engulfing the demons in a flurry of claws and teeth that bound them together. She stood, waited- one, two, three, swing- and sliced through all eight at once. They fell, screams cut off, still twitching, and she walked over them into the mansion.  
It had been years since she'd been here; the Haans hadn't needed to call on her for a long time. There were paintings, tapestries, furniture she didn't recognize, the fire, of course- there! Eun lept up the stairs, barely touching them, and bounded off the wall down a corridor, feet lifting as she swirled through the air. She couldn't feel the life, and for a second she panicked- but then she caught it, faint, and she landed. She tried the door, and it was locked. She growled, shook her head, stepped back, and kicked the door down, striding in.  
The woman she had seen was sitting in a chair; Eun knew her instantly. “Lira,” she gasped, and strode toward the old woman, catching her cheek with a hand.  
The human's eyes fluttered open, and she coughed, a rasping noise that broke Eun's heart. “Lira,” Eun said, “we've got to- we need to get you out of here, the smoke-”  
Lira placed her hand on Eun's, and her smile painted her lap with the fox spirit's tears. “Eun,” she rasped, “I'm not getting out of here alive. It's my time.”  
“But...” For a moment, Eun was at a loss for words. How could it have been so long? How could she have been asleep for so many years that her friend had aged so much?  
Lira shook her head. “I'm already done for,” she said, “I can feel it. And... I'm ready to go.” Her eyes glittered with tears, in sympathy to Eun. She coughed again, and Eun felt her chest lurch. “I'm glad,” she said, “that I got to see you again...”  
And she was gone.  
Eun buried her face in Lira's chest, and the chair shook with her sobs. The flames grew ever closer.  
When Eun could, she drew back, her breath coming sharp and ragged. She placed her hand on Lira's forehead. “Sleep well, old friend,” she whispered, and kissed the woman's forehead. Her flame was golden; a life well lived, and Eun watched until it faded. She turned to the doorway, which had become choked with fire, and walked forward.  
Eun walked out of the mansion as it collapsed. She looked back at it for a long moment. Then, she shook her head, and continued on.  
A demon was blocking the road out of the village; large, and covered in gore. It raised its club to its shoulder and opened its lips in a manic, toothy grin. Eun met its gaze, and she felt her rage building. It boiled inside her, and she opened her mouth, put her hands over her ears, and screamed. It was a pure note in the chaos; it filled her ears, filled the clouds, stopped the demon in its tracks. Ara stirred in the back of her mind, and Eun brushed her with a reassuring thought, curling around her. She didn't need to see this.  
Lightning struck Eun, and her scream faded away as the storm broke. Rain pelted down, smothering the fire, and she charged at the demon.  
Her spear struck it in the thigh, and the lightning answered, knocking it off its feet. She darted underneath it, whirled, and struck up, pushing it into the air. It tumbled, flailing wildly and grunting, and before it could recover she followed it, kicking it with enough force to throw it into the nearby trees. She hit the ground gracefully, gritted her teeth, and charged again as it pulled itself to its feet.  
Her next blow hit it in the chest, and it stumbled back as lightning struck it again; her spear sang in the air as she brought it around again, and again, and again, screaming, and a bolt from the storm snapped its chestplate. She kicked away again, pushing it down, and reached up; without bothering to land, she gathered flames around her claw, and swiped. The demon's skin cracked, and Eun swung her spear up, gripping it with both hands as gravity remembered her and she plunged down. Her spear hit true, and lightning coursed through her, through her spear, into the flesh of the beast. When it stopped moving, she stood, panting raggedly, and pulled her spear from its chest.  
She couldn't stay here. Ara would be waking soon, and she didn't want her to see this. She knew it would hurt her more than the revelation that it had been her brother working with these demons- a part of Eun boiled at the betrayal, and she calmed it, focusing on her breath. She turned her face to the sky, letting the rain wash the blood from her. Then, she shook, lowered her gaze...  
And walked forward. One step at a time. Leaving her home, and Ara's, behind her.  
When Ara woke, she found that she had perched in a tree; she had no memory of that. She was wearing a linen shift that she didn't remember owning, and her clothes were drying in the nearby branches. Something was strange in her head...  
Eun reached out, brushing Ara's mind. {We,} she told her, {have work to do.}


	2. Gifts Ungiven

Ara's knock was hesitant. {Why are we doing this?} Eun asked.  
“Because,” Ara said, “it's not right to steal.” She knocked again, somehow apologetically.  
“Coming,” someone said from inside the house. Eun snorted in the back of Ara's mind.  
The farmer was big. That was the first thing Ara noticed. Her eyes trailed up his barrel chest to his eyes as he scratched his jaw, his stubble poking out. Eun tensed.  
This farmer was not as young as Ara had hoped. He had big, burly arms, and was shirtless; for whatever reason, Ara didn't blush. His tan was dark, but she could see the lines of a pair of overalls on his skin. His legs-  
He cleared his throat. “Can I help you?” he drawled.  
Ara squeaked. She shook herself, and bowed hurridly; she could feel herself sweating. “Um, yes,” she said, and reached into a pocket, pulling out the linen shift she'd woken up in. “I, erm, believe this is yours?...” She withered under his stare.  
“Not mine,” the man answered, “but Lenora's.” He turned and shouted up the stairs, “Hey! Lennie!” Then he turned back to her. “She'll be with you in a moment,” he said, and yawned. Then, he turned around and sauntered into the kitchen, plopping into a chair.  
{It seems we've interrupted their breakfast,} Eun noted dryly. Then feet pounded down the stairs.  
The older woman was thin. Her hands looked as though she'd worked them to the bone and then some; she had a shock of blonde hair, which she brushed out of her eyes. “Yeah? Hey, hang on, is that-” Ara let her take the cloth, and bowed nervously as it was examined. “Where did you get this?” Lenora asked.  
{I don't like the tone of her voice,} Eun sniffed.  
“Um,” Ara started. “I, er,” she stammered. “I'm sorry, I...”  
Lenora crossed her arms and leaned against the doorframe. She eyed Ara up and down.  
{We've returned it,} Eun noted. {Why don't we get out of here?}  
Ara took a steadying breath, then forced herself to relax her grip on her spear. “I, um...” She started again, her voice getting smaller as she went, “I might have needed to grab something to wear while I washed my clothes I'm sorry my village burned down and-” She squeaked, flinching as Lenora moved, and Eun brushed her mind softly.  
“Your what?” Lenora blinked. “How in the world... Here, you've got a story, don't'cha? Come on in.” She wandered over to the kitchen, leaving Ara in the doorway.  
{It's not too late to run,} Eun said.  
Ara took a breath, gripping her spear tight. “I know,” she said softly. “I have to do this.”  
Eun didn't say anything, but Ara felt acceptance from her. She steadied herself, and walked into the house.

“... and that's why I'm here,” Ara said. She'd relaxed a little, but Eun could feel that she was still tense. She flicked one of her tails over Ara's mental shoulder. It wouldn't do to have her high priestess, and host, uncomfortable. “I'm sorry.” She bowed again, as much as she could while sitting- she'd initially wanted to do so on her knees, but they had insisted.  
The farmer grunted. “That'd be the smoke Elliot saw last night,” he murmured.  
Ara nodded, and Eun pushed gently. When she had Ara's attention, she said using her mouth, “And the rain. I called it to put out the fire.”  
“Sorry?” Lenora said.  
Ara shook her head. “I, um, that- that wasn't...”  
“Your voice went all funny,” Lenora noted. Ara blushed.  
“Anyway,” the farmer said, shaking his head and putting his arms on the table, “that's not all that happened last night. Three of our chickens went missing, darndest thing.” He shook his head again, and Ara's blush deepened. “The door to the coop was closed,” he mused, “I just heard somethin' spooking the hens and went to look, and when I checked we was missing three.”  
{Would've been more, but I heard the door open and split,} Eun said. Ara paled.  
“You wouldn't happen to know anything about that, would you?” Lenora asked.  
“I, um, that is,” Ara stammered. Eun sighed in the back of her head.  
“It was me,” Eun said with Ara's mouth. “I needed to get food after fighting off the demons. I-”  
“Excuse me just one second,” Ara said, and stood. She darted off and hid behind a wall. “Eun!” she hissed. “That's not...”  
{I thought we were coming clean,} Eun said. {You're the one who decided we needed to come here.}  
“Well, yes, but-!”  
The farmer put his arm on the wall beside Ara's head, and she just barely managed to stop Eun from plunging her (their?) spear into his throat. “Whoa there!” he said, and Ara blushed and pulled her weapon away, clutching it to her chest.  
“I'm sorry,” she babbled, “I- I wasn't myself, I, that was Eun, I'm sorry, I-”  
The farmer sighed as Eun curled around her mentally. “Right,” he said, in a tone of voice that made it clear he didn't believe her. “Listen. If you really did take our chickens, you gotta pay it off.”  
“Oh! Um, yes, just one moment...” She rifled around in her bags until he held up a hand.  
“I ain't gonna take your money,” he said. “Assumin' you're telling the truth, you're gonna need it more'n me.”  
“Then, how...?”  
“You can work in the fields with the rest of us today,” he said. “We'll even feed you lunch and dinner, and we'll consider it paid. Deal?” He held out a hand. After a moment of hesitation, Ara shook it.

“I ache all over,” Ara complained.  
{That's what doing the 'right' thing gets you,} Eun said.  
Ara rolled over, burying her face in the pillow. “Did you really have to put quotation marks around that?” she asked.  
Eun hesitated. {No, I didn't,} she finally said. {Sorry.}  
Ara sighed. “I just... It's all a bit much, you know? Losing home, losing everybody, and...”  
{And your brother,} Eun agreed. Mentally, she settled beside Ara, running a spectral hand up her back. {I know. I'm hurting too.}  
Ara nodded into the pillow. “I'm going to sleep,” she told the world in general. After a moment, she felt spectral lips on her brow.  
{Good night,} Eun said. {I hope it's restful.}  
The next morning, steps went past Ara's door, then hesitated. They turned around, wandering, a hand running over the wall. Then, they went away.  
Eun heard, “How can you lose a room?”  
“I don't know,” the farmer replied, “it's just gone.”  
“What?” More footsteps. Eun smirked.  
The farmers were trying to find the door that was exactly where it had been all night. Eun wanted to make sure Ara got enough sleep, so she'd slipped in a little, just enough to work an illusion; from the outside, it would appear as though the wall continued without so much as a seam.  
After another twenty minutes of this, Ara stirred. Eun looked at her, then sighed and dispelled the illusion.  
“Ow!” The farmer had apparently been putting his hand inside the door. Eun giggled, then peeked out, invisible. It was useful, being detached from a body.  
He was waving his hand. “What happened?” the woman asked.  
“It bit me,” he said. “What in the world...?” He opened it, and found Ara sitting up in bed and rubbing her eyes. She'd slept in her robe.  
Eun slipped into her sapphire, and for a brief second, the light caught it as red instead of amber.


	3. Country roads can't take me home

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> short chapter, but...  
> also cw: animal death

“She says that Eun's in her.”  
Ara blushed, and her companion stroked her hair softly. {Be calm,} she murmured. {They won't believe unless I show myself.}  
Ara nodded, then turned her attention back to her work. She'd insisted on doing a little more for the farmers, and word had spread; Eun bristled lightly as someone laughed, then forced herself to relax.  
{I don't like them laughing at you,} she complained. {Even if you were lying, it'd be rude. And these bumpkins wouldn't know a holy relic if it bit them.}  
The human girl smirked. She'd mostly retreated into her shell overnight; she was still trying to comprehend what had happened. Her basket was only about half full of cabbages; apparently, Eun was more interested in meat than vegetables.  
{You should pick that one, to the left,} she said suddenly. Ara did so, and it was all Eun could do to keep her from visibly starting when a rock landed beside her. {Pick it up,} Eun coached, then added, {I can handle this, if you like.}  
Ara picked up the stone, examining it, then stood. She looked up, and Eun directed her gaze to a group of small children who were watching her. One or two looked intimidated, but the rest just looked annoyed.  
{We need to nip this in the bud now,} Eun said. {This was just the first of many, if we don't. If you want me to take over, just say the word.}  
“Please,” Ara murmured, walking over to the group. She felt a light shift as she gave the finer motor controls to Eun; she didn't have to worry about any of that, now. The children mostly met her eyes, and one sparked red against the noon sun.  
“What,” Eun said, “was that about?” She tossed the rock lightly, and it flipped in the air before landing in her palm with a quiet smack.  
“My da said you're a liar,” one of the more forward children said. Some of the others voiced agreement.  
Eun quirked a brow. Ara hid her mental face in the fox spirit's shoulder, and was rewarded with an arm around her. “That's funny,” she said, “because we have told nothing but truth since we arrived.”  
“You're not Eun,” another of them piped up. “Eun don't exist, she's like... Santa.” This got a chorus of agreement.  
“I see you feel strongly on the matter,” Eun replied. She tilted her head sharply, lifting her upper lip; Ara thought that her teeth were a little sharper. “Tell me,” she said, “what do your parents say about Eun?”  
There was a general shuffling. This wasn't the way the children had expected this to go down. Finally, one of them piped up, “She's got nine tails.”  
“Yeah, and white hair,” another child agreed.  
“And red eyes.”  
“You mean,” Eun said, and Ara slipped away further as she assumed control; “these tails?” She fanned them out as they formed, all nine of them. “Or this hair?” It bleached, in plain daylight, and she shook her head lightly as it came undone, her ears picking out of it. When she opened her eyes next, they glowed, and the whisker marks on her cheek did too. “And these red eyes?”  
The children stared at her for a moment. Then one dropped a rock, and they ran, screaming; Eun put her ears back with a sigh.  
{Are we done now?} Ara asked.  
{Not yet,} Eun replied. {We need to make a public declaration first.}

Word spread like wildfire. Within the hour, everyone in the small farming community had gathered; Eun wasn't outwardly watching them, crouched above a pond. They were silent. She jabbed with her spear, and the splash didn't happen until she pulled the fish out of the water, holding it aloft as it wriggled helplessly.  
Then, she snapped her fingers, and it burst into flame.  
Eun turned to the gathered villagers; they were no longer silent. For a long moment, she surveyed their faces. “Some of you,” she began, “don't believe in legends.  
“Some of you,” the kitsune continued, “don't believe that there is such a thing as a town god; that I don't exist. Has it been that long since I've last walked the countryside? That long since I quested, saving your grandparents and their parents?”  
“My da said he saw you once,” a villager piped up finally. “I didn't think he was telling the truth, but...”  
“What was his name?” Eun asked.  
“Reddington. Er, ma'am.” The farmer tugged on their forelock.  
“Reddington,” she said, letting her eyelids droop; she focused on the farmer's face, and then it clicked. “Someone was stealing his cattle, isn't that right?”  
“Why, yes,” the farmer said, blinking. There was a general murmur of agreement. People remembered the story.  
Eun let the fish finish burning. She brought it down, and Ara made a noise in the back of her head. {Hm?}  
{You are not putting that in my body,} Ara said.   
{Why not? It's tasty.}  
{It's gross. I can still see the eye rolling.}  
Ara sighed, then lifted the spear again. “Does anyone want this fish? Ara would rather not.”  
It took a moment, and then a child raised their hand. Eun plucked the fish from the spear, then squatted, offering it to the small thing. They accepted it, then scurried back into the crowd.  
“I can't say,” Eun said, “that I have been a good village god. Or even a particularly medium one.” She stood, and looked each adult in the eyes, one at a time. “But I can promise you one thing: before I sleep again, before I rest, I will quell the problem that led to my waking. I will destroy the demons, before they can harm you.”  
There was a general murmur.  
“Now, if you will excuse us,” Eun said, “we need to get on the road. I have favors to call in.”  
The townsfolk parted as she walked forward, and then she stood at the gate to the farm, looking back at them. They regarded her much like confused, frightened sheep; that is to say, like all sheep everywhere at all times.  
Eun turned away, and as they walked down the dirt road, she let Ara take back over. {Now we're done,} she said.  
“That was less than fun,” Ara said.  
{Good thing you had me to do it for you,} Eun replied.  
Ara's lip quirked up. “You know, Eun...”  
{Yes, Ara?}  
“I'm glad I have you along with me. You're a remnant of home.”  
It took Eun a moment to respond. When she did, it was with {You're my high priestess. You're all I've got right now.} Her tone was surprisingly soft.  
“I suppose,” Ara said. “I don't feel ready for it.”  
{No one ever does,} Eun said. {You'll make it, and it will all be okay.}  
Ara nodded, and focused on the horizon.  
{Also, you're cute.}  
Ara choked on her spit.


End file.
